By Ken Lay
Some timely hitting, solid defense and steady pitching were the ingredients for a winning recipe for the West High School softball in a non-district midweek victory over rival Bearden Wednesday night.
The Lady Rebels (5-5) and Lady Bulldogs (4-6) were embroiled in a 0-0 deadlock Wednesday night at Bearden’s Kim Hazelwood Field through two innings until West senior pitcher Brooke Weaver clubbed a three-run homer over the left-field fence with one out in the top of the third frame.
The Lady Rebels extended their advantage to 5-0 at the top of the fourth as Ava Humphreys and Mia Beeler came up with RBI singles. Humphreys’ scoring hit plated Joli Bush, who doubled to lead off the inning.
Beeler’s hit scored Humphreys, who stole second before coming home.
After a slow start at the plate, the Lady Rebels saw their offense kick into overdrive as they collected 10 hits, including two doubles from Bush and Weaver’s round-tripper that opened the scoring.
“This was a good solid effort and a big win for us,” West coach Brandy Weaver said. “We played good defense, we hit the ball well and the pitching was good, too.
“I’m so proud of these kids.”
Brooke Weaver pitched a complete game, going seven innings. She gave up one unearned run in the bottom of the seventh. She also surrendered five hits and two walks, while striking out seven.
West scored its sixth run of the contest in the sixth, making it 6-0, on an RBI single from Claire Davenport that plated EB Bibee, who reached on an error and stole second earlier in the inning.
The Lady Bulldogs scored in the seventh when Ada Daniels picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
“We waited too long to make adjustments,” Bearden coach Alicia Boris said. “We started making adjustments in the fifth, but we’ve got to be quicker.
“Sometimes, you try to do too much and you just have to get back to fundamentals.”
Things only got worse for the Bulldogs on Thursday as they dropped a 17-0 decision to Lenoir City.
Meanwhile, the Lady Rebels outlasted Central, 17-12, in a slugfest on Tuesday and dropped a narrow 6-5 game to Powell on Thursday.
